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Longzhu’s Expession: “My play style is ‘You hit me, I hit you back.’”

Longzhu Gaming took down Samsung Galaxy in a surprising 2-0 victory, marking its second win in League Champions Korea’s summer split. Part of Longzhu’s success was in the top lane, as Gu “Expession” Bon-Taek led the charge as Irelia in both games, scoring solo kills against one of the LCK’s top teams. Expession said that the team was able to exploit Samsung’s weak spots this series, giving them the win, writes Daily eSports’ Lee Yoon-Ji.

“I think Samsung is a good team since they did well against other great teams,” he told Daily eSports. “But the coach staff told us that Samsung had a lot more weak points than we thought. For example, they are very weak against teleport ganks in the bottom lane. So I was able to play with confidence.”

When asked if this series also showcased Samsung’s weaknesses, Expession further cemented his claim and said it was a source of confidence.

“They showed a lot of weaknesses than we anticipated,” he said. “We let the first set drag on because of lack of confidence, but we started the second set with plenty of confidence. I didn’t think we were going to lose. We did just as well as expected.”

Expession has said in the past that the recent tank meta wasn’t one that fit him, but with patch 6.11 it seems more carry-type champions have a role in the top lane. Expession couldn’t be happier about this meta shift.

“My play style is ‘You hit me, I hit you back,’” he said. “So I was very frustrated when I had to play tanks. Mao Kai didn’t really fit that play style either. I don’t think I can enjoy the game as a tank. It feels like fighting with paper swords when tanks fight in lane.”

Longzhu will be facing another top team, the ROX Tigers in their next game, and their top laner Song “Smeb” Kyeong-Ho is another player who is relishing top lane champions with carry potential. In a one-on-one matchup, Expession is banking on Smeb’s rather inconsistent performance.

“Each player performs differently based on their condition,” he said. “I think Smeb has been going up and down lately. I wish to win with confidence (against him.)”